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Crackers thief gets seven years in prison

A St James man who held up a senior citizen at gunpoint and robbed him of a plastic bag, which only contained a pack of Excelsior Water Crackers, was sentenced to seven years at hard labour in the Western Regional Gun Court on Tuesday.

The convicted man is 22-year-old Ricardo Irving, a labourer of Salt Spring, in St James.

According to reports, in late 2016, the elderly man was walking along the main road in the Cornwall Courts Housing Scheme, when Irving and three other armed men held him up at gunpoint and took away the bag.

According to the victim, he had gone to a nearby shop where he had purchased the crackers, and was on his way back home when he was accosted.

It is believed that the men thought the bag contained money as the victim said one of them said: “Gimme de money bwoy,” before snatching the bag from him.

Persons who saw the incident raised an alarm, which attracted the attention of a passing police patrol.

The police chased the men and held Irving; the other three men escaped. The ‘scandal bag’ with the pack of water crackers was retrieved by the police.

Irving was charged with robbery with aggravation and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

“Him get exactly what him deserve … old people can’t walk in peace because of them,” a Cornwall Court resident said, when she heard of the conviction. “It is a pity the other three got away.”